FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Mike Daly
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MANNA COMMEMORATES TEN MILLION MEALS
AS PART OF ITS NUTRITIONAL OUTREACH
Philadelphia…Sometime between the months of May and June, MANNA will commemorate a milestone of meals – ten million cooked, packaged and delivered - to those residents whose illnesses have left them at acute nutritional risk. They’ll mark the celebration the way they usually do – by cooking.
“We just keep on doing what we do best,” says Sue Daugherty, the charity’s Executive Director. MANNA staff dietitians and nutritionists have developed eleven different diet modified meals to cover the nutritional needs of life threatening illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, cardiac and renal disease and HIV/AIDS.
“We prepare and deliver about 65,000 meals each month” explains Daugherty. “And it’s all free of charge.” MANNA is currently exploring marketing its meals to a paying population to help underwrite the costs of providing nourishment to those who are sick and poor. “We’ve never turned anyone away who needed us” she said. “And we don’t intend to start now.”
“It’s lifesaving,” says Conshohocken resident Dee Wallace, whose husband Don suffers from liver and colon cancer. “It’s difficult to adequately put into words what a difference it’s made. I wish all people who are able to donate funds and help could understand and personally see how essential MANNA is.”
MANNA’s commemoration of its ten millionth meal will end with a special luncheon for MANNA clients in its offices at 23rd and Ranstead Street in downtown Philadelphia on Monday, June 17th from 12:30pm to 2:00pm.
“We’re inviting current clients and recovered ones to celebrate together and we’ve scheduled both Mayor Nutter and Mayor Redd to join in the celebration” Daugherty said. She continued, saying “Research is showing now that people receiving MANNA meals recuperate more quickly, spend less time in the hospital, are less likely to be re-admitted and more likely to be released directly to their homes instead of long term care centers. The benefits of good nutrition to recovery are enormous.” She points out the organization’s recent invitation to speak at FNCE (Food and Nutrition Conference) one of the largest peer review nutritional conferences in the country.
Standing in MANNA’s busy kitchen, Daugherty watches as staff and volunteers prep and package fresh dinners, musing at how far the organization has come. “Ten million meals” she reflects. “It’s just the beginning.”
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ABOUT MANNA
Especially for people at acute nutritional risk due to life-threatening illnesses, MANNA prepares and delivers delicious nourishing meals and counsel, empowering individuals to battle illness and improve their quality of life. A small professional staff and 1,500 dedicated volunteers bring more than 65,000 nutritious, home-delivered meals each month to individuals and families living with cancer, kidney disease, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses. MANNA dietitians promote wellness through nutrition education and counseling. Through these services, MANNA provides opportunities for caring people to extend loving support to families, friends, and neighbors.
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